Soundtrack

Description

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Soundtrack is music reviewer Grant Smithies’ marvellously passionate, insightful and entertaining tribute to New Zealand music.

Smithies has written about 110 albums he loves, each containing music that rises above the background noise to say something significant about the musicians who made it and the place and time from which it came. It is a highly subjective selection which does not pretend to be exhaustive or definitive. Rather, it has been driven by a desire to shine a light on many of the lesser-known treasures of New Zealand music: to uncover albums of equal power and cultural significance to many of the better-known recordings traditionally held up as seminal New Zealand albums.

This remarkable collection of music is, not surprisingly, extremely diverse. It ranges from Flying Nun guitar bands to bedroom-studio techno, punk to folk, Maori showbands to metal, Polynesian hip hop to indie pop, Auckland alt. country to Wellington soul. Whatever the genre, these albums are united by one thing -– they are all superb.

In Soundtrack, the author has also enlisted the help of a range of other writers, as well as a scattering of musicians, designers, actors and academics, all of whom have contributed guest essays about a New Zealand album they love.

Grant Smithies never strays from his mission to celebrate, loudly and emotionally, some of the most important cultural artifacts our musicians have produced. This is a significant book about New Zealand music – read it, and feel grateful for the wonderful musical heritage that we can claim as our own.

about the author

Grant Smithies has written extensively on music and popular culture over the last fiteen years, with his work having appeared in most major magazines and newspapers in New Zealand. He currently writes for the Sunday Star Times, New Zealand’s highest circulation weekend newspaper. He also appears as a weekly music commentator on New Zealand radio network, Radio Live, and on Christchurch bNet station, RDU, and makes regular appearances on television and Radio New Zealand National.

With such exposure across all popular media, Smithies has become the best-known music critic in New Zealand. In 2006 he won ‘Best Arts Feature/Magazine Feature Writer’, and in 2007 ‘Best Reviewer’, at the Qantas Media Awards.